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Tuesday, 5 July 2016

The Botanist New Menu Launch

If you've been reading my blog for even a little bit you'll know one of my most favourite places in Chester is The Botanist. So I was really excited to be invited to the launch of their new menu*.

We arrived on a Tuesday evening and as usual, we felt really welcomed. I ordered my new favourite cocktail, Thai Chilli Crush and some Padron peppers to start.

Hannah, our waitress was really friendly and helpful. Due to not eating gluten at the moment, I asked if she knew which dishes didn't contain gluten and she bought over a really helpful list, do all restaurants do this? It definitely made life easier.I ended up going with the chicken hanging kebab, it's something I've had multiple times before but it's so good - covered in sweet chilli, ginger and garlic butter - is there any better combination? Also, I dream of the seasoned chips! To make sure I tried something new from the menu I also opted for a side of summer slaw with cranberries, sultanas and lemon. It was so yummy and I could kid myself that I was eating healthy!!

Andy went for chicken liver and rum pate to start which came with an amazing chutney. Before I went out I reached out on twitter for suggestions and Andy went for the highly recommended crispy salt and pepper beef salad - which looked yummy and came with a beautiful sweet chilli dressing. Finally, he finished with the chocolate chip cookie dough dessert (seriously, this guy never eats more food than me!). I cheated a bit with gluten and tried the cookie dough - it was amazing!!

I finished my meal with a pot of English Breakfast tea which came with the sweetest milk jug which I wanted to take home with me. Seriously, where do I get one?

The only teeny tiny complaint, and I say this only because I believe in giving a balanced review. Andy found a bit of wood in his salad - that looked a bit like a thing that's used to label plants. When we mentioned it to the person who collected our plates he was very apologetic but then later the manager came over and said: "there's nothing in the kitchen or the whole building that looks like that". It didn't really feel like an apology, however, since then I have had a full apology and the little incident was dealt with really well afterwards. Honestly though, it was a small blip and doesn't at all reflect every great experience we've had at The Botanist including this time. The rest of the staff were really friendly and helpful as ever. *The meal at The Botanist was complimentary in exchange for an honest review.